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Congress Didn't Topple Apartheid

Updated Aug. 1, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

By Herman Nickel. Mr. Nickel served as U.S. ambassador to South Africa from 1982 to 1986.

I n their frantic attempt to morph Dick Cheney into a hard-right extremist, Al Gore and his minions have dragged up a hoary old chestnut. Mr. Cheney's votes on South Africa in the '80s, we are told, show that George W. Bush's running mate was soft on apartheid and -- by implication -- soft on racism.